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Alan Dean Foster

Eddie Jones

The Big Three
--- Isaac Asimov
--- Arthur C. Clarke
--- Robert A. Heinlein

J.R.R. Tolkien

Lin Carter

Patrick Moore

Philip E. High

Richard C. Meredith

Robert Silverberg

Robert E. Vardeman

Fighting Fantasy

Science Fiction Magazines

Science Fiction and Fantasy Series
--- Introduction
--- Ballantine Adult Fantasy
--- Gollancz Classic SF
--- Science Fiction Book Club
--- SF Masterworks
--- Sphere SF Classics
--- Tandem Sci-Fi & Fantasy
--- Unicorn Fantasy Fiction
--- Venture Science Fiction
--- VGSF Classics

SF Universes and Fantasy Worlds

In April 1985 Arrow Books launched a new series of books under their Hamlyn Paperbacks imprint.

Venture Science Fiction, or as it was better known, Venture SF was hailed by Arrow Books as "a new publishing imprint to bring you the very best in adventure SF.  Time travel, galactic empires, alien invasions - all the traditional elements that have made science fiction the most exciting form of literature of the 20th century.  In Venture SF, we'll be bringing you novels of action adventure - no short stories, no fantasy, no boredom.  If action adventure SF is your type of reading, then Venture SF is for you - every book published by us will be the first appearance in paperback in the UK.  We'll be publishing one new book every month - Start collecting them now!"

Back in the mid-1980s this was right up my street and the distinctive cover design caught my eye.  I started collecting with gusto.  Many of the authors were not particularly well known to me, but their books were easy reading, enjoyable, and well worth a look.  After the launch in April 1985, the books were published until September 1989, with a few breaks and changes to the imprint.

Twenty-five volumes were issued in total over a four and a half year period. None of them had been published before in paperback format in the UK, and for many it was their first British appearance.  The series was edited by Rog Peyton and Rod Milner of Andromeda Books (the late, but great, bookshop in Birmingham) and the cover illustrations were all painted by artist Eddie Jones.  Some of the 25 cover illustrations were originals painted for friends and conventions, while others had been used previously for other books and magazines (see Interzone No.150, p.5).

Venture SF went through a quiet phase during 1986, but Gollancz came to the rescue with Gollancz Classic SF.  Here I found authors already encountered through the local library, such as Robert Silverberg and Arthur C. Clarke, but also others like Robert Heinlein and Kurt Vonnegut were waiting for me.

Unfortunately the series was short lived, only making it to volume 20 due to changes at Gollancz and the creation of VGSF - their new science fiction imprint.  Gollancz Classic SF was replaced by VGSF Classics in January 1988; the volume numbering continued but the books were issued in a smaller format with new logo and less uniform appearance.

Nearly twenty-five years later, while looking for something to read, I re-discovered a selection of books from both series and began to read them all over again.  I have been scouring the web and secondhand bookshops looking to fill in the holes in my collection, and after a lot of searching I believe I have completed both series.  As I had already collated the details it was a fairly simple task to drop them into a database and add images of each volume.

Postscript
Every now and then I see a set of books with a cover design that just leaps off the shelf at me. Tandem Sci-Fi & Science Fantasy is one of those series - the big 'S' on the cover and the variety of artwork used gives them both uniformity and individuality at the same time.  In this case the series connects back by a convoluted path to university days when a housemate was a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the interest rubbed off a little.  In turn that led to the Conan films, and then to the Robert E. Howard stories which were edited (and continued) by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter - and this is where we meet Tandem SF&F:  Lin Carter wrote a series of swords and sorcery novels centred around Thongor the Barbarian and it was these that I stumbled upon one day in a second-hand bookshop.  Not long after I also found The Man in the Maze and Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg and after a lot of searching I think I have found all of the books issued in the series before the format changed to be much less distinctive.

Click on a title to see details of each volume as well as the publisher's blurb

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Click on a title to see details of each volume as well as the publisher's blurb

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Click on a title to see details of each volume as well as the publisher's blurb

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Click on a title to see details of each volume as well as the publisher's blurb

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Click on a title to see details of each volume as well as the publisher's blurb

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